Designing online scaffolds for interactive computer simulation

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of online scaffolds in computer simulation to facilitate students' science learning. We first introduced online scaffolds to assist and model students' science learning and to demonstrate how a system embedded with online scaffolds...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInteractive learning environments Vol. 21; no. 3; pp. 229 - 243
Main Authors Chen, Ching-Huei, Wu, I-Chia, Jen, Fen-Lan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 01.06.2013
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Computer Simulation
Computer Uses in Education
Educational Technology
Foreign Countries
High School Students
inquiry system
Interviews
Pretests Posttests
Qualitative Research
Questionnaires
Scaffolding (Teaching Technique)
scaffolds
Science Instruction
science learning
Secondary School Science
simulation learning
Taiwan
Teaching Methods
TELEs
Web Based Instruction
Taiwan
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Summary:The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of online scaffolds in computer simulation to facilitate students' science learning. We first introduced online scaffolds to assist and model students' science learning and to demonstrate how a system embedded with online scaffolds can be designed and implemented to help high school students learn complex science concepts. The results showed that students were in favor of learning with the system. Additional findings from our qualitative data analysis revealed three major themes, including (a) supporting science learning with interactive simulation, (b) adopting data-driven strategies, and (c) generating naïve and alternative conceptions. This finding has important implications for how online scaffolds should be designed and how to augment scientific inquiry and understanding with simulation-based learning.
ISSN:1049-4820
1744-5191
DOI:10.1080/10494820.2010.549831